


this is your life (it's what you make of it)

by biichan



Category: Doctor Who, xxxHoLic
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Jossed, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-17
Updated: 2007-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-07 09:12:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biichan/pseuds/biichan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life goes on. Sometimes you end up perfectly happy where you are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is your life (it's what you make of it)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laurus Nobilis](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Laurus+Nobilis).



> Written for Laurus Nobilis in the Rose Lives ficathon. Prompts were Rose working together with Mickey and Jake, random stuff Rose has learned at Torchwood that have turned out useful, and something with Jackie.

Mondays were the worst, Rose Tyler decided. For some reason, everything always happened on a Monday. Last week, it had been an invading race of giant slugs whose master plan was to eat up the Earth's vegetation, lay their eggs all over it, and then explode the sun in order to spread their young throughout the universe. Luckily, Dr Shaw had been able to rig up a pair of salt guns for Mickey and Jake to use—while Rose had unenviable task of distracting their leader long enough for the boys to sneak up on him. She ended up covered with Gastropod guts for her troubles and it took a full three shampoos to finally get it out of her hair.

The week before _that_ someone had had the absolutely brilliant idea to market cute little lobster robots for Christmas, based on stolen blueprints from John Lumic. Really, it was a wonder that anyone was surprised when they started sabotaging London's power supply and killing anyone that caught them in the act. In the end it took probably two or three hundred pounds of quick-drying cement to stop the little monsters. (Of the important life-skills Rose thought she would pick up working at Torchwood, driving a cement mixer had definitely not been one of them.)

Last month there were Chinese bird people. And the Crown Prince of Monaco. And this weird _thing_ that came out of a tarot card—and there was this weird misshapen bunny that claimed it was God. And Rose wasn't going to even _think_ about the space rhinos.

Today was weirder. "Balls," Rose swore as the nuns deposited her in the cell. "I'd hoped you two would have at least made it back to the car."

"We did," said Jake flatly. "They got there first."

Rose stared at him. "You didn't try to, oh, fight them off?"

"They're _nuns_," said Jake slowly, as if he were talking to a very small child. "You don't beat up nuns unless you want to go to hell."

"They're evil nuns!" Rose snapped. "They kidnapped Mum! I can't believe you!" She pushed her hair back from her face. "Where's Martha? If they got you, shouldn't Martha be here with us?" Rose had drafted Martha into being their getaway driver, since Martha had needed something to keep her mind off waiting for the results of her exams. She was starting to think this wasn't a good idea.

"Rose," Mickey said quietly, "they had the Mother Abbess with them."

Rose swallowed. "Oh," she said. "Martha... she's like Da— Pete."

"Yeah," Mickey said. "Like Pete." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Look, Martha said to tell you she found the bits in Mrs Nelson-Stanley's diary about the amulet. We can _fix_ them."

"We just need the amulet back," Jake added.

Rose nodded. "Right," she said. "I'll just get us out of here, then."

The lock picks were in the secret inside pocket of her jacket. She'd kept them there ever since Jo had given them to her for Christmas. Rose hadn't expected to be getting lessons in escapology from Doctor Shaw's lab assistant (whose main function in the laboratory seems to mostly be in passing Doctor Shaw things) but she was heartily glad of it—especially since the Doctor had never actually shared the instructions for constructing sonic screwdrivers (or sent her a robot dog when he was busy draining the life from dying suns.)

It wasn't a hard lock to pick. Rose had them out in less than a minute. "Right," she said, mind racing. "I saw where they were taking Mum. If you two can distract them, I'll get Mum loose and steal the amulet back."

When the explosions started ten minutes later, Rose knew it was her cue. As soon as the nuns were out of the room (leaving Rose's mum tied up to a chair and blindfolded), Rose dashed inside and started working at the ropes that held Jackie Tyler. "Don't worry," she whispered. "It's me, Mum."

"It's about time," Jackie replied in what was more of a stage-whisper than anything else. "They were going to turn me into one of those Gorgon things like the Abbess—with claws! And scales! And probably snakes in my hair too—you can't see it under the habits, but I saw that Revenge Of The Titans movie with you and your friends and I remember what that Medusa woman looked like! You know, I always thought those nuns were suspicious. As soon as I saw them at the auction I said to myself, they're up to something. And I was right!"

Rose found herself smiling in spite of herself. Mickey and Martha adored Clash of the Titans, but then they _were_ great huge geeks. It was one of the things Rose loved about them. "You know, Mum, that gives me an idea. I don't suppose you have your compact mirror on you?"

~*~*~

_It had been four days ago. After the mess with the Gastropods, she'd been sent with Mickey and Jake to Tokyo in order to investigate a possible re-appearance of the Cybermats. As it turned out, the shiny little crayfish toys actually _were_ toys, with no Lumic involvement whatsoever. They had time to spare, so the three of them had resolved to be tourists for a couple hours. Rose had ended up going off on her own. She'd had the thought that maybe she'd pick up some of the funny Japanese candy to surprise Martha with._

_The store she found instead was something completely different._

_"I could do it for you, you know," the shopkeeper said. Yuuko, her name was. She'd called herself the Space-Time Witch—Rose had to restrain herself from checking to see if she had two pulses. "Send you back to your old world, to your friend the Doctor. You could spend the rest of your natural life with him. Of course," she added, blowing a ring of smoke, "there would have to be an equal exchange."_

_"What do you mean?" Rose whispered._

_Yuuko regarded at her thoughtfully. "I think taking your memories of your family and your friends in this world should just about do it."_

_Rose thought of her mum and of Pete, who _was_ her dad in all ways that counted. She thought of Mickey and Jake and the easy camaraderie between their team. She thought of Doctor Shaw and Jo and Donna the receptionist (who'd taught her how to make spreadsheets) and Ianto and Adeola and Toshiko and everyone else at Torchwood. She thought of Martha, holding hands on the moon, and the unspoken possibilities that lay between them. And she thought of her baby sister, who she'd only just met._

_"Thanks," Rose said, "but I think I'm happy where I am."_


End file.
